I'm guessing a Japanese teacher would take umbrage at the notion they work"less hard", likewise a Finnish teacher.

Paul has been talking about hours in the classroom as a measure, whereas inJapan, a faculty member is expected to spend more time discussing andcrafting curriculum.

In my book, crafting curriculum is an important responsibility of anyteacher and if I can't find any resources you worked on, if you have noportfolio, then I will have a harder time thinking of you as a teacher.

If all you do is get in front of the classroom and hold forth, then I mightthink of you as an actor, and not a teacher.

Because the curriculum used in North America is so ridiculously out ofdate, so bereft of essential nutrients (much like the fast food diet), it'sall the more important that the real teachers among them start redesigningthe curriculum pronto.

Relying on vapid, unimaginative, risk-averse, textbooks is not onlyguaranteed to churn out more people with mediocre skills and abilities,it's downright lazy.

In other words, I would argue that "teachers" who only hold forth in theclassroom, but do no curriculum design, are actually working *less hard*than those who design curriculum.

They're also shirking a core responsibility.

They've been manipulated out of doing a credible job. They are not reallyteachers, just glorified textbook presenters and day care providers(institutionalized clowns charged with providing minor innocuousentertainment in a society that wants to "socialize" its young people inlarge prison-block like buildings).

In short, if you don't help design curriculum for your school, you'recloser to a lazy-good-for-nothing than a teacher. You should fight to getyour real job back.